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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoEric Albrecht | DispatchVeterans Memorial, 300 W. Broad St., is scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt as part of a plan to redevelop the west bank of the Scioto River.

Members of various Franklin County veterans groups say the fight to save Veterans Memorial from
demolition may be over, but the battle to keep veterans activities and outreach services at the
location has just begun.

Franklin County commissioners authorized the county administrator last week to sign a contract
with the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. to demolish Veterans Memorial and replace it with a
new interactive museum and statewide memorial. They said the new facility would better honor the
sacrifice of Ohio veterans and teach a new generation about the importance of military service.

John Dreska, a board member of the Military Veterans Education Foundation, or MILVETS, said many
local veterans were shut out of the discussion that led up to that decision. Now, he’s requesting
that they have a greater say in what happens next at 300 W. Broad St.

The veterans have three demands, he said. They want a say in what kind of memorial and museum
replaces Veterans Memorial; they want outreach services such as the homeless Veterans Stand Down
and similar programs to continue at the new facility; and they want free meeting and office space
for veterans to remain in the building.

The commissioners have already said a Franklin County Room will be part of the new facility and
will be free for local veterans groups to use.

“They have all the cards,” Dreska said. “I have nothing … nothing but the will of the people
behind me. I think they’re starting to realize they don’t have the support they thought they
did."

Steve Ebersole, another MILVETS member, said the commissioners’ original plan to move the
county's Veterans Service Commission to Memorial Hall, at 280 E. Broad St., concerns many
veterans.

He said the space is too small, and that parking is inadequate to do all the things the
commission and veterans groups have been able to do at Veterans Memorial. He’s also worried that
county taxpayers will end up paying for the building’s upkeep, or — worse — that veterans will have
to pay to use the facility. “Our concern is dialogue,” Ebersole said. “Can we negotiate some kind
of compromise?”

Taxpayers will not have to pay to maintain the new facility, County Administrator Don Brown
said. The county is committed to working with the Veterans Service Commission to find a suitable
home and the county will work with the commission and an architect to design space at Memorial Hall
that suits veterans’ needs, he said. There is enough parking at the Hall, Brown said, to
accommodate the service commission and its customers — about 30 cars per day.

Ebersole said veterans groups had discussed going to the ballot to overturn the decision to
demolish and rebuild Veterans Memorial, but it wasn’t clear whether that would be possible.

The commissioners’ decision to partner with the development corporation to create a new memorial
is a contract, and it does not appear to be subject to a referendum, elections officials said.

Commissioner Marilyn Brown said the county is committed to providing the same level of services,
meeting space and parking for veterans. That includes the Veterans Stand Down, she said.

The county commissioners delayed a plan last week to formalize the service commission’s move to
Memorial Hall, to give commission members a chance to weigh in.